I have to admit the raven and adept with the common positive is a little hard to get use to, but once you do it becomes second nature.
Adept 22 Retired
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dixontj93060
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It's not hard, just inconvenient.
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I don't know anyone who actually likes it. I've seen numerous very experienced fliers who, the first time they try to use a common lead altimeter, spend 20 minutes scratching their heads, trying to wrap their brain around what they need to do. This includes people who are very knowledgeable about electronics, and who do circuit design.
They're nice little units; I've never had problems with them, but I, and lots of others I know, find them a pain to wire. And for the record, I own three of them, as they're great when I want something with an accelerometer.
The Adept unit was never a consideration for me -- that darned common wire is a pain, and isn't worth saving a few bucks, especially considering that an altimeter is a one-time purchase, and in the grand scheme of things, even a $150 Raven is a small portion of the total HPR expense.
-Kevin
CarVac
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The best way to do it is to take .1" header pins and solder your wires to that and use it as the interface to the Raven. That way it's like a Power Perch, but already directly connected to everything you need.
It's #9 in this diagram.
Between my record attempt and the I1299 shot, I was able to switch from the Tripoli 70/30G Raven to my club's 250G Raven in 3 minutes in the field, no hassle involved.
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I had a 'bit' of head scratching on the common leads on the Adept-22. But it's never let me down. I use it only with low current matches (like HiRi's, Pratt Canisters - the old ones, or Quest Q2G2 - is there any reason to use anything else these days?).
I have my RRC2's on sleds that go quickly from one airframe to another. The wiring for the most part stays with the airframes. All I do is put leads in terminal blocks (which are all labeled). BTW: My RRC2's are late 90's early 2000s. The RRC2 mini is new to me but has the same menus structure as a Pet Timer2+ timer so it's very familiar to me.
YMMV
I have my RRC2's on sleds that go quickly from one airframe to another. The wiring for the most part stays with the airframes. All I do is put leads in terminal blocks (which are all labeled). BTW: My RRC2's are late 90's early 2000s. The RRC2 mini is new to me but has the same menus structure as a Pet Timer2+ timer so it's very familiar to me.
YMMV
Rocketjunkie
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I have
One was a version 1 with 23 flights, the other was a version 2 with 4 flights. Both times neither charge fired. I was able to solder wires on the second after the lawn dart. It never detected liftoff. The other was destroyed too thoroughly to get data. A Raven will never fly without a second altimeter for deployment in my rocket again.
Sorry to hear about this. Do you have more information that might help narrow down the problem?
-Adrian
Rocketjunkie
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See above post. I was able to determine that the second one never detected liftoff. I don't know if there is any relevance, but 2 flights earlier was one that burned 7 motors looping a couple hundred feet above the ground (cluster lit asymmetrically). No damage to rocket, all motors burned out about when it landed (on it's side). It was beeping correctly on the pad before liftoff on all flights. The Raven 1 was too thoroughly destroyed to obtain data.
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How does $64.95 sound?
Seriously.
Jim Amos, the man behind the soldering iron, sat down this weekend and finalized his bill of materials, which allowed him to determine the retail price. He's "very comfortable" that $64.95 will be the final retail price.
There will also be a special introductory price, when the unit is first made available.
-Kevin
dixontj93060
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Davidtmp
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And that is the base price for altimeter only, correct Kevin? LCD would add to that, but geez....that's still probably $20 cheaper than I would have thought. Will be in on these at the beginning...at least 1 for now.
GaryT
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64.95 I'm glad thats out of the way.
DAllen
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LOL
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The LCD unit is priced just as attractively. The cool thing is no matter how many altimeters you have, you only need one LCD to get that functionality. But, you never have to buy an LCD -- you can do everything without it, it just makes it easier.
-Kevin
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Was the less than 9v measured with load or without? A 9v should measure higher than 9v when unloaded - anything measuring below 9v without load might be pretty spent. Had this combination of low voltage and ejection canisters been tested with the Adept before? I had a problem with a Giant Leap slim shot not working with Newton's 3rd ejection cannisters years ago. It tested on the ground the first time but subsequent tests revealed it to be very close to the edge of failure. Some would light, some would not. The all fire current required was too much for the little 12v battery that unit used. Later when they modified it with a small capacitor it was supposedly more reliable and I had great success firing J-Tek's but I still avoided fringe cases like the N3's.
that is a very aggressive price. well done!
Target
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Not too frightening. I do like the $30+ America better. Just have to save a bit and wait longer. Although what comes along for $65? Harness etc? Has shipping cost been determined? When available? ThNks for posting the price.
Green Jello
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$30+ America?
EDIT: Oh, I think I get it now. Didn't realize you are British and you probably meant "$30+ American".
EDIT: Oh, I think I get it now. Didn't realize you are British and you probably meant "$30+ American".
I think America is worth more than $30.
Target
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I agree. Back to remembering the best altimeter for the price.
I remember setting my first flight on the adept 22 was my 5.5 inch big bertha upscale. Beautiful flight. The whole flight I was worried about if I hooked the wiring harness correctly. I set the main to the lowest setting and scared myself. I think it was 300 feet. Ever 100 feet, I kept hoping it was hooked up right. It was.
I remember setting my first flight on the adept 22 was my 5.5 inch big bertha upscale. Beautiful flight. The whole flight I was worried about if I hooked the wiring harness correctly. I set the main to the lowest setting and scared myself. I think it was 300 feet. Ever 100 feet, I kept hoping it was hooked up right. It was.
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I'm assuming it'll be just the altimeter -- everyone has a different idea of what the "right" harness is, so adding it to the cost will make some happy, and others not so much.
Jim has to finish up some day job work, then he's hoping to finalize LCD pricing, as well.
There's also an optional dongle to allow you to hook it up to a computer, should you desire to do so.
I don't know Jim's shipping charges, or how he calculates them. Pure guess, but I'd say in the $7 - $10 range, depending on the method he uses.
Beta boards are just now being built, so we won't have those until next week. The goal of all of us involved is to get them available as quickly as possible.
-Kevin
awseiger
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My first flight was in a Hot Rod Rockets Buffalo. I was so nervous that I accidentally mixed up the main chute and the drouge chute. The rocket drifted into the trees.
Later in the flying season a member of my club found pieces of my main chute dangling from the trees. Underneath, no rocket was found.
I'll have to check the sod farm main office, as we suspect the Buffalo's remains reside there. Now that an Adept22 is a rare item, I'll have to try and revive it as soon as I get back!
Later in the flying season a member of my club found pieces of my main chute dangling from the trees. Underneath, no rocket was found.
I'll have to check the sod farm main office, as we suspect the Buffalo's remains reside there. Now that an Adept22 is a rare item, I'll have to try and revive it as soon as I get back!
DAllen
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Kinda funny how a thread that was originally about the Adept 22 being retired has turned into a RRC3 promo thread...haha I'm just as much to blame as anyone though.
Adepts will continue to be a big influence on rocketry. How many others can say 10,000 served.
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Me, too.
I'll admit, I'm just excited to see this altimeter hitting the market, and here's why...
One of the things we often see is questions from someone who's just getting into altimeters, and they're looking for a first altimeter. To me, the ideal is moderately priced, simple to use and Just Works.
The Raven, RDAS, etc have lots of features, which make them harder to use. Plus, the Raven has the common wire which complicates it.
The MARSA54 has got to be one of the easiest to use altimeters out there. But it's big, and it's expensive, both of which are limiting. That LCD, though, and the menu system John has built, that's the cat's meow for simplicity.
Along comes Jim, asking if I want to help with alpha testing a new altimeter he's working on. Then, he gets Crazy Jim involved. It quickly becomes evident we both have similar thoughts on features and functionality, to make a Great First Altimeter, but not one so basic that you'll eventually replace it with something with more features.
Gary and Shane are in full support, as well, and the product evolves.
So, what do we have? We have the MissileWorks reliability and simplicity -- take it out of the box, just wire it up, and it Just Works. Nothing complicated to mess with. Some switches and options, should you want to go that route.
An LCD that makes it easy to do at the field. For the bare-bones approach, you can do it via DIP switches and a push button, on the board. Personally, I find that approach cumbersome. The LCD, though? EASY! And the LCD is affordable, very affordable!
Add to that an optional USB dongle so you can pull the data down to your computer (for the geeks amongst us, myself included).
The altimeter has a lot of options and features, but the really nice thing? If you don't need them, they're out of the way. In "normal mode", the altimeter is easy to use. In "advanced mode" you get more bells and whistles.
So, now you know why I'm so excited about this thing!
-Kevin
